An Independent School is a school which is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operation and is instead operated by tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the investment yield of an endowment. Though the terms "independent school" and "private school" are often synonyms in popular usage in the U.S. and in Canada, independent schools themselves have come to favor the term "independent school". In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the more prestigious independent schools are known as "public schools” sometimes categorised as major and minor public schools.

UK independent schools are also sometimes referred to as privateschools, publicschools or fee-paying (or, more accurately, fee-charging) schools.

WHAT IS PUBLIC SCHOOL IN BRITISH ENGLISH?

A public school, in common English and Welsh usage, is a (usually) prestigious school, for children usually between the ages of 11 or 13 and 18, which charges fees and is not financed by the state.

Public schools are under the HMC (head-masters conference). Public schools can come under various groups like the Eton Group, or the Rugby Group. Generally they are institutions founded by royal charter.. They get their name from the fact they used to be charitable organisations that taught a few scholars from the 'public' for free. Then the trend became to admit fee payers to subsidise the scholars, and gradually they became what they are today. However all public schools are technically charitable foundations, and must offer bursaries and scholarships to poorer students. Membership of the HMC is often considered as what defines a school as a public school in England or Wales, placing it above the less prestigious private schools.

Some public schools are particularly old, such as Westminster (founded 1179), Eton (1440), St. Paul's (1509), Sherborne (1550), Bedford (1552), Shrewsbury School (1552), Rugby (1567), Harrow (1572), Uppingham (1584), Charterhouse (1611) and Winchester (1382), which has maintained the longest unbroken history of any school in England.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN BRITISH ENGLISH

There are 2,500+ Private schools in the UK which are independent of local or central government control. They are sometimes called fee paying (or, more accurately, fee charging) These schools are so called because they charge parents school fees.

With the change of the defination and the function of Public Schools , both Private and Public schools refers to same meaning "independent schools"